Bertka Files

Taylor Geas

“How is he still this good at this age?”&nbsp;

“He's changed the game of basketball.”&nbsp;

At a Lakers game, you’ll see the man these things are said about, sitting just off the court waiting, as the lights lower, he sits ready for the game to begin.&nbsp;

The same narratives that surround LeBron James surround another Laker; they surround Bill Bertka.&nbsp;&nbsp;

But where LeBron is set to embark on his 21st season, he’s clocked not even half the amount of time as Coach, who has been with the Lakers organization for nearly 50 years.&nbsp;

Today, Bertka turned 96 years old.&nbsp;&nbsp;

So far he’s spent his summer in Las Vegas at Summer League—he hasn’t missed a single one since their inception in 1969—and also in the gym at the Lakers training facility&nbsp;evaluating new recruits and scouting possible prospects. &nbsp;

Almost weekly, he’ll make the trek down from his house in Santa Barbara, where he lives with his wife Solveig. He takes a bus down the coast into LAX, about a three-hour trip. From there, Bertka&nbsp;stays in close proximity to the training center so he can report to the practice facility regularly.&nbsp;&nbsp;

He’s about three decades past the age of retirement and has shown no signs of giving up the game.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“It's probably his nighttime routine of having dinner and then a nightcap of a Heineken and a shot of tequila before he goes to bed,” says Ed Kelley, Bertka’s friend and the Lakers Manager of Travel Operations. &nbsp;&nbsp;

“Every night in Vegas I’ll catch him at the bar at 10 O'clock and he’d always reel me in, ‘Come on, I’ll buy ya a beer!’ he’d say. A couple of times I was so tired I couldn’t even make it,” Ed laughs. &nbsp;&nbsp;

While staying down in Los Angeles, Bertka catches rides from Ed each morning and afternoon to the office. There’s usually a black folding chair waiting for him in the middle of the practice courts. His office has always been a giant floor made of hardwood with basketball hoops floating above his head. &nbsp;

Ed and Coach drive to and from the arena together on game days. Ed calls the rides some of the most “precious moments” of his career.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I’ll remember them forever,” he says.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Ed explains how Bertka has this deep, fundamental knowledge of all the players and a never-ending desire to always learn more.&nbsp;

“He realizes he doesn’t know everything and is still learning, which I think keeps him going. I mean he’s downstairs right now looking at our players working out in the summer. He's still digging for information, studying them, wanting to know how they did in college, and wanting to pull up footage of some of their games. So, his inquisitiveness is really what’s impressive about him and what keeps him relevant to the organization.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

It’s a part of life to slow down, to have given everything to your craft, and reach a point where you must look to what’s next. It’s unnerving&nbsp;when that doesn’t happen. Look how fixated people were on Tom Brady, and how locked in they still are on LeBron. It’s hard to understand how someone can keep going; can keep going and still be great. But there are people who are wired that way and Bertka’s one of them.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“You get burnt out and run out of ideas or innovations—and I don’t think he’s at that point,” Ed says chuckling.&nbsp;&nbsp;

And the guy can hold his own. At 96, he’s got an edge to him that will make you laugh—oh but set you straight. When Bertka says, “no,” he means no. He once had an entire night dedicated to him canceled because he didn’t want the attention.&nbsp;&nbsp;

But he’s kind to everyone, whether you’ve just met or have known him for years. You’ll almost always catch him with a gracious smile unless the Lakers are losing, and one other reason...&nbsp;

“He gets fired up when it’s time to change his password on his computer,” Ed mentions with a grin.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“What I appreciate about Bill Bertka is, obviously I’ve known him for so many years,” explains Lisa Estrada, Vice President of Facilities and Building Operations, “When I was the Laker Girls Director, he’d say, ‘How’s the team doing, whipping them into shape?!’ And I'd say ‘Ya!’ And we’d talk about that and that was kind of our shtick. ...And now that I’m with the building, he will always say, ‘I can always call you.’ And I appreciate that. He's called me for his password on his laptop and I've shown him how to deal with that. He's called me to ask whether he can come into the building because it’s a Saturday. He says, ‘I always can count on you, what would the Lakers do without you?’ That actually sticks. And means a hell of a lot.”&nbsp;

Lisa’s worked alongside Bertka since the 1987-88 season. As they’ve grown with the organization, their friendship has as well. Lisa’s been the recipient of a bagful of avocados plucked from the trees on Bertka’s hillside. She’s seen his home office, “a big ass office that looks like a cute little pool house” filled with articles from the seventies, pictures from the sixties, and lanyards with his credentials throughout his time in the NBA. Together, they’ve celebrated Hall of Fame inductions and endured celebrations of life.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I think at one point he said, ‘I just want to feel valued for what I have to offer,’” Lisa says.&nbsp;

“And I get it, I mean don’t we all want to feel that we’re valued and have something to offer?”&nbsp;

At 96, he’s not going to ship it home, and bask in all the glimmer that the Lakers have to offer, no, he’s going to contribute to the grit.&nbsp;And he has so much to show for&nbsp;his endless contribution. But you have to believe that’s not even really why he did it (and continues to). &nbsp;

Accompanying his&nbsp;11 NBA championships, he was the Lakers' first-ever scout, he was the first assistant coach to sit behind the team’s bench, he was one of the first people to create highlight reels, he’d quite literally cut film with scissors and tape plays together for the players to watch. And alongside Pat Riley, he outlined the fundamentals of the plus/minus system.&nbsp;

“I think he just kind of bereaves history,” Estrada says, “He had a different way of looking at basketball. He was the forefront.”&nbsp;

“He’s so loyal to this organization and loves this organization. He means a great deal to the Lakers!”&nbsp;

He means a great deal to basketball. &nbsp;

A few years ago, at Summer League in 2019, Bertka was honored by all the coaches that worked closely with him, Pat Riley, Mitch Kupchak, Del Harris, David Fogel, Jerry West, and Rick Carlisle. 

The thing about this story is that a couple of coaches from the group don’t get along and would never step foot on the same court together—that is unless it was for Bill Bertka.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Ed ran into Warren LeGarie, creator of the NBA’s Summer League at this year's. “He reminded me about it this summer and all the personalities he had to manage to get them to center court to take a photo. But they did it for Bill.”   

“The picture is on his desk,” Ed says. 

“Not many people are interested in hearing anything about me, you know?” Bertka said during one of our Bertka Files meetings last year.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Well anyways...” he continued.&nbsp;&nbsp;

But after a year of The Bertka Files, where Laker Land was granted an inside look at the stories and cast members throughout Lakers History, I think nothing could be more untrue.&nbsp;&nbsp;

He represents what people come here and break their back to become—to do—to follow their dreams and then get hit with the harsh reality that there is no stopping point for any of it, excellence is unfinished. And there’s a type of person that’s not deterred by that reality, that instead enjoys it; they grab onto the difficulties and challenges and won't let go for anything.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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The Bertka Files, Volume 8: Final Edition

—At 95 years old, the longest-tenured employee of the team, and still equipped with one of the sharpest basketball minds, Bill Bertka has agreed to honor the franchise's 75th anniversary season by sharing stories on what he’s seen throughout Lakers History—&nbsp;

Who doesn’t love the hate that runs through a rivalry? It's a beautiful thing.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Yes, beautiful, because a true rivalry is when greatness goes head-to-head. And not just once, twice, or a few times, this collision of power is a regular occurrence. You get attached to that sort of thing, and you have to choose a side.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

The Lakers-Celtics rivalry dates all the way back to the fifties when the Lakers were playing in Minneapolis. It has long since been regarded as one of the greatest rivalries in all professional sports. And after more than sixty years, the rivalry is still as fresh as ever.&nbsp;&nbsp;

How could it not be? With both teams having met a total of 12 times in the NBA Finals. The Lakers have traveled to the Finals 32 total times and the Celtics have been there 20 times. These appearances have amounted to 17 championships apiece, tied for most in the NBA.&nbsp;&nbsp;So, don’t even think about wearing Kelly Green within 100 feet of the Lakers Training Facility. And across the country in Boston, you’re bound to see a couple of several people still wearing, “Beat LA” t-shirts.&nbsp;&nbsp;And the fans? Well, it doesn’t matter if they’re at church, on a first date, or in the middle of a job interview, a Celtics and Lakers fan will have no problem getting into it, and they’ve got their arguments ready to go, top of mind—some of their points of contention have a shelf-life of over 50 years.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Any true rivalry is going to come with its own level of animosity and let’s just say with this rivalry, the hate runs deep.&nbsp;&nbsp;Hates used intentionally here. You might be thinking, “Woah, that’s a little much.” But hatred is characterized by an intense emotional response, and that is really the best way to explain the effect these two have on each other. Celtics fans hate Lakers fans and Lakers fans hate Celtics fans.&nbsp;&nbsp;There is, however, an exception...&nbsp;

“Do you hate the Celtics?” I asked Bertka.&nbsp;“No, not at all,” he replied.&nbsp;&nbsp;“It's funny,” Coach continued, “I respect the Celtics. I respect the Celtics for their competitiveness, intensity, and how hard they play.”&nbsp;Funny indeed.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Coach’s take is a rare take— a gracious take—that you might not ever hear from either side. But Bertka, he’s got 20, 30+ years of wisdom, insight, reflection, and experience on your standard Lakers and Celtics fans. He’s endured the rivalry longer than most.&nbsp;“I was a basketball player in college when the Celtics started. Then I got into coaching and so I was intrigued by how the Celtics played— their fast break,” Coach said.“The fast break was my favorite offense in basketball. It influenced everything I did when I was a coach.”&nbsp;Bertka was the basketball coach at Hancock College. And in 1957, armed with a lightning-quick fast break, his team established a 41-game win streak on their way to the California State Championship.For their celebratory State Championship dinner, Allen Hancock, the college’s founder wanted to do something special. Allen was also a big financial donor to the University of San Francisco. He invited Bill Russell and K.C. Jones, USF’s star basketball players, to the team’s banquet.&nbsp;&nbsp;“That was my first introduction to Bill Russell and K.C. Jones—who later became the cornerstones of the Boston Celtics,” Bertka explained. “They were our honored guests, and it was a thrilling situation to say the least.”&nbsp;It’s funny to think in that moment where the paths of these three men would take them— and how much they would intersect.&nbsp;&nbsp;Russell and Jones became Celtics. Russell became an 11x NBA Champion, Jones an 8x Champion... all with Boston.&nbsp;&nbsp;And Bertka wound up as a Scout for the Lakers in 1969.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Lo and behold, what do you know,” Bertka said, “In 1971, Jack Kent Cooke (Lakers Owner at the time) told Fred Schaus, Coach and General Manager, to get the best coach for the Lakers to replace Joe Mullaney."&nbsp;He got Bill Sharman...&nbsp;Like Russell and Jones, Sharman was a former Celtics player too— they were teammates. He won four NBA Championships with the franchise.&nbsp;&nbsp;One of Sharman's first demands upon joining the Lakers was an assistant coach.&nbsp;With a few Lakers seasons under his belt, Bertka let Sharman know that with his knowledge of the league and team, and previous college coaching experience, he’d like to be considered for the position.&nbsp;&nbsp;A couple of days later, Bertka gets a call from Sharman. Sharman was up in Santa Barbara, where Bertka lived, and wanted to meet with Coach in person. They met at Westmont College.&nbsp;Bertka shared what Sharman said to him, “’I want you to know, I really like you and the work you do, but I'm hiring K.C. Jones to be my assistant.’”&nbsp;&nbsp;Coach replied, "Well because both of you are Celtics, I can understand that decision. And I wish you much success.”&nbsp;Boom.&nbsp;&nbsp;However, Sharman responded. “’I’m enhancing your position and I want you to start doing some 16-millimeter film loops to improve your scouting reports,’” he told Bertka.&nbsp;&nbsp;“At that time nobody did stuff like this,” Coach said, “It created quite a stir around the league that the Lakers were doing this.”&nbsp;“That year, we won 33 straight games and the World Championship. That was 1971-72.”&nbsp;Two former Celtics and Coach.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Jones left for another coaching position the following season, and then, for the 1983-84 season, he headed back to Boston and became the Head Coach of the Celtics.&nbsp;

The Lakers' then head coach, Pat Riley, and his assistant coach, our very own Bill Bertka, met K.C. Jones and his team in the Finals that June.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Now in 1983-84, we’re gonna play the Boston Celtics!” Bertka yelled. “With K.C. Jones!” Coach’s voice grew louder and louder.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

“In 1984, we experienced real heat problems. The arena was so hot. We were screaming about how hot it was in there. And Red Auerbach (Celtics Owner), in true form, says, ‘You think our end of the court is any cooler than your end of the court,’” Bertka recited while cracking up.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Then he gave me a sharp-witted look and continued, “We win Game 1, give away Game 2, and we lose the series. It was very distasteful. The people were really hard on us. They called us the Laker fakers, and the Laker choke artists, and all kinds of things like that because we lost that series.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

“That was a tough summer in ‘84.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

But the Lakers were back in the Finals that 1984-85 season. And sure enough, they were facing Boston again.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“The first game back we were playing at Boston Garden, it’s called the Memorial Day massacre, they killed us. Everybody was down,” Bertka said.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“But because of the greatness of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, we came back and won the series, on the parquet floor.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

“On the parquet floor,” he said it again.&nbsp;

“We came back in 1984-85 and won the series 4-2 and broke the Boston jinx. Then we came back and beat Boston in 87,” Coach shouted—yes, he was full-blown shouting, “And who was the coach?” He asked me and then quickly provided his own answer, “K.C. Jonesssss,” he said with a self-satisfied smile.&nbsp;

“What'd you think of Boston Garden?” I asked him.&nbsp;&nbsp;

He laughed and replied, “Oh, that’s funny you should ask.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

“You know Boston Garden was built after World War 2.” Bertka pointed out. “And the reason they made the parquet floor was because they had to use used lumber, and so they bought all this used lumber and made the design. And so, the parquet floor served them for 50-something years. But the parquet floor, you’d bounce a ball, and the ball wouldn’t come back up... because it was dead.”&nbsp;

This looked to be just the beginning of Coach’s concerns with Boston Garden.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“We used to say if you go to Boston Garden, the rims are loose so when the ball hits it, the ball doesn’t bounce away real quick... they’re dead.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

“The locker rooms were like dungeons,” Coach continued. “Nothing fancy, no equipment, all you had was hooks on the wall, no air conditioning. It was terrible.”&nbsp;

His voice started to rise more, “Their press room was up at the top of the arena. It took you forever to walk to the press room, and then when you got to the press room, there really wasn’t much up there except a little bit of bad coffee and a cold sandwich or something like that.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

But still, with all those tactics, the scheming, the plotting, the mind games, the blood baths on the floor, Bertka doesn’t hate Boston.&nbsp;

“As a team and how they played the game of basketball,” he said, “I respected the Celtics. And I respected them as our opponents.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Did I wanna beat them? You better believe it. You better believe it. There was no greater sensation in basketball than beating the Celtics.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Chances are, the Celtics would probably say the same thing about us.&nbsp;&nbsp;

And that right there, that’s the most beautiful part of it all: through the hate, the brutal clashes, the picking of sides, there’s an endless amount of respect.&nbsp;&nbsp;

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The Bertka Files, Volume 7: The Lakers-Celtics Rivalry 

—At 95 years old, the longest-tenured employee of the team, and still equipped with one of the sharpest basketball minds, Bill Bertka has agreed to honor the franchise's 75th anniversary season by sharing stories on what he’s seen throughout Lakers History—&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Everyone loves the story about the path to success. We’ve heard the story so many times. The renditions are endless, but still after all this time, it’s never gotten old.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Is it the persistence past failure? The allure of transformation? Is it just the sheer relatability of it all?&nbsp;&nbsp;

When we watch someone succeed, something inside us is provoked— we’re shown that we have it in us to succeed too. Sometimes that provocation is big, sometimes it’s small, but it’s always a beautiful thing to be reminded that it’s there.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The name Dr. Jerry Buss always comes to mind when thinking about the Lakers' success. He was lured to Los Angeles by possibility; the same reason the Lakers traveled west in 1960.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

“One of my favorite sayings to use around him was ‘there ain't nothing like winning,’” Bertka said.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“There ain't nothing like winning, and he loved to win. Whatever it was. That's why he was a poker player. And when he took the Lakers over. You know, he wanted us to be like the Boston Celtics, win, win, win.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Dr. Buss examined every lived experience and found the lesson in it, whether it was from his stepdad having him dig ditches in frozen ground for three hours before school in the middle of a Wyoming winter or his high school science teacher who showed him the value of an education. He didn’t waste his time deciphering the good from the bad in life, everything had value if you could boil it down to the lesson.&nbsp;&nbsp;

That’s what I’ve gathered from the stories Coach Bertka has told me too. He made it his life’s work to examine the criteria of success for a team and then he went out to find those missing pieces and devise a plan. Sometimes the team would reach the goal, sometimes they’d fall short. Regardless, Coach would move on to the next game, the next season, the next goal.&nbsp;&nbsp;

That’s success—carrying on no matter what. Regardless of if you win or lose, pass or fail, what are you going to do next? Unlike most people, they both knew this, and they recognized it in one another.&nbsp;&nbsp;

After every home game at the Forum, Dr. Buss would come down to the locker room. Coach Bertka had a cubicle like the players, and he would be in his cubicle finalizing game notes. Dr. Buss would sit down next to him, and they’d talk.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“That became sort of a ritual over the years,” Bertka said.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I knew he was gonna come down and we were gonna talk, and he always asked a lot of very analytical questions about the game and enjoyed any kind of information you gave him. And it was, it was a nice relationship.”&nbsp;

When the Lakers had their training camp in Hawaii, they’d stay at the Hilton Hotel in Honolulu. Adjacent to the hotel was the Kobe Japanese&nbsp;Steak House and every year they were there, the team would have dinner with Dr. Buss. Just the coaches, the players, and Dr. Buss.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“It was one of his favorite events,” Bertka said. “It was for everybody to introduce themself and what they did and what their hopes were for the coming year. And it was a very nice, very nice evening.”&nbsp;

In the 1981-82 season, Pat Riley became the official Head Coach of the Lakers. He asked Bertka to rejoin the team as his assistant. Ten years later, Pat left the Lakers to become Head Coach of the New York Knicks. Bertka stayed.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Before Riley left, Dr. Buss told him, “Don't worry about Bill. I’ll take care of Bill.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Riley replied, “Bill deserves the best.”&nbsp;

Dr. Buss gave Coach a multi-year contract. “Which for an assistant coach was unheard of,” Coach said. “And he made me the highest paid assistant coach in the league at that time.”&nbsp;

“He was a very, very special man in my life. One of the greatest human beings that I've ever worked with. And certainly, the respect that he gave me, I'll always cherish it, you know?”&nbsp;

Dr. Buss had told Bertka, “you’re one of the best acquisitions I ever made.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

In 34 years of owning the team, Dr. Buss saw his team go to an astounding 16 NBA Finals and win 10 championships. Now, was Dr. Buss a byproduct of the Lakers or were the Los Angeles Lakers a byproduct of him?&nbsp;&nbsp;

It’s almost as if they found each other and brought out the parts of one another that were needed to succeed.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Dr. Buss was called unrealistic. And the Lakers, they were just another sports team. But neither of them accepted that.&nbsp;&nbsp;

That’s what the Lakers do to people, they ask you to be more. And Bertka’s been answering the ask for 48 seasons.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“We were on top of the world and then we dropped down. Then we came back, then we dropped down,” Coach explained about his time with the team. “It's been like this: success, lose, win, lose, win. And then in the nineties, when Del Harris was Head Coach, that's when we acquired Kobe and Shaq. And I said, well, I just want to see us on top one more time and then I'll maybe I'll retire, you know?”&nbsp;&nbsp;

“So, they got it done,” he said alluding to the three-peat. But he didn’t retire.&nbsp;&nbsp;

And more than 30 years ago, Jerry West, the Lakers General Manager at the time, called Bertka. During the lockout seasons in ’98, ’99, and 2011, Dr. Buss had asked members he trusted among the organization if they’d be willing to take a pay cut until the team was back on their feet. Coach always graciously accepted. When Jerry West called, he told Coach, “‘Dr. Buss wants you to know he's very appreciative of your cooperative spirit, and that when you retire, he's going to give you a Rolls Royce.”&nbsp;

“And you’ve never retired?!” I asked him.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I haven't retired,” he answered.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I’d like to see us back up,” he said.

Bertka Files

The Bertka Files, Volume 8: Final Edition

The Bertka Files, Volume 7: The Lakers-Celtics Rivalry

The Bertka Files, Volume 6: Dr. Buss